hrmbusiness

Attracting and Retaining Employees through Competitive Pay Scales

2012-05-16T01:00:00.002-07:00

One of the critical human resources responsibilities is to maintain a competitive and yet content workforce. To achieve this goal, the organization must create a compensation program that is broad enough to encompass the needs of all categories of employees. It must be reviewed and adjusted regularly to ensure that they can hire and retain exceptional personnel.

To be able to establish a competitive salary scheme, here are three basic HR strategies to consider:

Analyze and Evaluate Jobs Objectively

Job evaluation is a strategy to analyze each position and compare it with other jobs within the company. This is the key to establish a fair package because the management will be able to distinguish who has greater responsibilities, accountability and exposure to physical hazards. As a result, they can assign positions to different levels with a corresponding pay structure.

Implement a Salary Benchmarking Plan

Salary benchmarking is a method of comparing salaries of positions across companies in the same industry. The gathered information determines whether the employer is overpaying or underpaying its employees. It's usually done through DIY surveys, availing services of HR consulting firms or using paperless, web-based tools.

Assess Company’s Financial Capability

The benchmarking results let the company know its compensation status in the market. If the business is prosperous, the management can choose to carry out a scheme that is above the mean to attract outstanding employees. Otherwise, they must focus on promoting other strengths of the company to maintain its desirable image in the industry.

A good employee compensation package has been proven successful in addressing excessive work-related stress, in stimulating employee motivation and in encouraging higher level of achievement. With these benefits, the tips above are definitely good ways of nurturing the most valuable capital of the company.

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About the Author

Nor Franco is the Managing Consultant of nextManager.net. He's a former corporate executive whose passion is bringing out the full potential of HR in Businesses. This time that passion is pursued through Virtual Management. He writes and blogs about his management views and insights here. Follow him on Twitter.

How to increase your bottom line using Invoice Factoring

2012-05-03T05:17:00.000-07:00

Business is too tight these days. As many companies are closing their doors and leaving behind uncollected AR (Accounts Receivable), it is noteworthy that some startups and small businesses are seemingly thriving. While product differentiation, excellent customer service, organizational competitiveness, captured niche market, and effective management may rank among the success factors in these companies, however, the most common underlying factor is having an efficient AR collection system.

Invoice Factoring has emerged into one of the best AR collection systems or alternatives for companies that are going through an exponential growth or are having cash flow issues but they cannot obtain immediate funding elsewhere. If you are a startup or a small business owner, here are three compelling reasons why you need to embrace accounts receivable factoring to increase your bottom line:

Smart way of managing your Accounts Receivable

Why be hard on yourself? Why spend time worrying because you placed all your eggs in one basket, that is, investing on a few major accounts, when you can be guaranteed of collection. When you partner with an invoice factoring agency, you are in effect relieving yourself of the angst and anxieties of when and how to collect your AR. It is smart business management in all sense of the word. Also, it gives you the capability and opportunity to operate in a prompt, effective, and efficient manner. And you can…

Spend more time selling

This means, you can channel all your energies and resources to getting those sales and inking those project contracts. More sales, more revenues, and more collection. But of course, the latter is no longer a part of your major concerns because it has been taken care of by your business partner –the invoice factoring company that you have engaged solely for that purpose.

Selling is the lifeblood of your business. I believe that it is an obvious cliche worth stating. There is no greater joy for any entrepreneur when you can sell with the assurance and confidence that you will be paid. Not only that, you can also extend a longer credit line to your customers. This means lesser risks on your end, and you can fire up the furnace to get those products sold and those services reached your target market without worrying about collection afterwards.

Streamlined Operating Cost

Many startups and small businesses are still enslaved by the idea that invoice factoring is for the big boys only, the corporate giants who can afford the perceived monumental fees. But that was decades ago. Before, invoice factoring is the common alternative for financially struggling companies to bail them out from a worsening cash flow. But lately, this financial technique is widely being used by smart financial managers for long-term financial planning, healthier cash flow, and for business expansion. Why? It is because the rates for invoice factoring are competitive compared to other conventional funding methods or business loans. More so, compared to taking your time to go out and chase your debtors, invoice factoring is cost effective in many ways.

Increased Bottom line

I can actually think a plethora of reasons why you need to use invoice factoring. But suffice to say that, it will definitely increase your bottom line. When you get your AR on time all the time, spend more time selling, and lowering your operating costs, this could only mean increasing your revenue and profits as a direct result.

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The Mobile Employee

2012-05-03T01:33:00.000-07:00

Credit: Infographic by Enterprise mobile consultants at [x]cube LABS

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Impact of Social Networking Sites on Recruitment

2012-04-23T15:18:00.000-07:00

Social Networking Sites Changed the Way we do things

With just over 1.43 billion social network users in the world (an increase of 19.2% from 2011), it looks like that social networking is still spreading over the four corners of the earth. With sites first appearing around the late nineties with networks such as sixdegrees.com, no one could have guessed just how big social networking was about to become. Although Six Degrees closed down in 2001, that was not before it was sold for $125million and raked in a total number of 1,000,000 active users.

Unsurprisingly, the fluctuation of networking sites have come and gone over the years. Where once powerful Myspace was worth around $500million it was sold to the likes of Mr. Justin Timberlake for a total of $35 million in 2011. However, with behemoth sites such as Facebook (current estimated worth between $75-100 billion) and Twitter ($10 billion), there’s no end for social networking on the horizon and the popularisation of such sites are only set to rise in the near future.

It is their sudden and blistering emergence onto the world market that means we still don’t fully understand the full impact on what social networking has had on our lives our just where it will lead. Unsurprisingly, social networking is now affecting the recruitment industry with surprising results; thanks to a recent survey which interviewed 300 randomly selected employers, we can now just catch a glimpse on the impact that social networking is having on the recruitment industry and the people who are applying for jobs all over the world.

More Employers Use Social Networking Sites in their Recruitment

Out of the 300 employers that were interviewed, it was found that 47% had viewed a candidates social networking site only moments after receiving an application and did so to save their own time. Another 27% viewed a candidate’s networking site after an initial conversation and 15% after a detailed one. All in all, the survey found that a massive 91% of employers had used social networking to screen potential employees. Out of all the sites, 76% had used Facebook, 53% had used Twitter and 48% had screened their candidates on LinkedIn. For the people out there with all their party photographs from university and the last weekend, a quick page viewing could be a career halting decision. Thankfully however, we have the statistics to discover just what happened once the employers had screened the candidates, and what happened next.

Out of the 300 employers, 61% of them rejected the candidates once that they had viewed their social networking websites. 11% were rejected because of inappropriate photographs, another 11% because of inappropriate comments and 10% were rejected because they were seen to be taking drugs on their profiles. Of course, the latter is probably not something that you or I may have difficulty hiding, but we all have photographs where we are found in questionable situations. Setting a privacy setting on your Facebook or Twitter may be a good solution to this.

Interestingly, and the highest reason of rejection out of the lot; 13% of employers rejected candidates because they were found to have lied about their qualifications during their application and were exposed through their social networking page.

Of course, the news isn’t all bad and there can be benefits to owning a well-kept social networking page.

Out of the employers, 68% of employers had hired applicants after viewing their social networking pages. Impressively, 36% had hired because they found their candidates to be creative, 33% because the candidates had shown good communication on their pages. Interestingly, another 24% of employers had hired because they found that the candidates had accidentally omitted a qualification or an award from their curriculum vitae.

Our Take

It is always recommended to keep your social networking page clean and interesting if you are a candidate. For employers, it is also interesting to know, besides the social networking resources, that there is also powerful software out there that is available that can aide your employment search such as Recruitment Software with CIPHR.

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About the Author

Nor Franco is the Managing Director and Virtual CEO of nextManager.net. He's a former corporate executive whose passion is bringing out the full potential of HR in Businesses. This time that passion is pursued through Virtual Management. He writes and blogs about his management views and insights here. Follow him on Twitter.

Transforming Corporate Culture

2012-03-19T04:10:00.000-07:00

How do organizations make a name for themselves, get a lion share of the market, and racked in billions on net revenues? Should they do it the Toyota way by creating a rigid Total Quality Management System (TQM)? Or should they do it the GE way by having a Visionary CEO who will take them to new heights like Jack Welch did in his heydays? Or should they do it the Apple way, by not listening to what the market says and instead create a product that the market will love like a cult?

No. Although they could try any of those approaches and probably succeed, but they missed the crucial element –corporate culture. Different approaches but what made them succeed is the underlying culture behind the way they do business.

Corporate Culture Defines Organizational Success

If at any rate your organization has adopted any of the business models I have mentioned above, it is perfectly okay. Besides, these corporate giants showed us a better and proven ways of doing business. However, before you exhaust your resources into getting into their moulds, look within your organization and see what you have that makes you different and competitive. More often, you will be surprised to see that the values you try to espouse are your edge. These values determine the kind of corporate culture you currently have or would like to have.

Those 3 giants turned into household names because of the corporate culture they imbibe. And I believe that’s what defined theirs success, what made them conquer their market, and what made them weather economic crisis after the other.

Corporate Culture Matters

Corporate culture is inherent in any organization. It matters. Lisa Jackson and Gerry Schmidt, both corporate culture experts and co-authored, “Transforming Corporate Culture: 9 Natural Truths for Being Fit to Compete,” were right when they said that that culture is not something you build, it is there when the company crawled out the belly of its startup mother or its founders’ novel ideas. What makes it a reckoning power for any organization is when you transform it into a competitive edge. I believe Jackson and Schmidt put it bluntly,

Culture is in the eye of the hurricane: The calm, powerful, centered ability of your organization to win in the Darwin game. Culture is what allows you to be in enough alignment to adapt quickly, build sustained growth, and compete in a global economy (even when you are local).

Corporate Culture is Key to Organizational Competitiveness

It is observable that more and more organizations these days are focusing their business strategies from relying on tangible resources to the intangible such as developing values, creating reliable knowledge bases, management systems, strong brand and a mission-centric organization. Apparently, this has been brought into light by highly competitive and successful companies who have embraced a culture where everyone in the organization are adapting to changes, putting emphasis on creativity, transparent communications and shared values. This is not an overnight phenomenon. These organizations invested time and efforts in creating this kind of culture.

This is what Jackson and Schmidt argue in their book, that,

Culture transform through a deposit of very specific and consistent actions, over time these deposits are like compound interest: They exponentially foster an environment in which the business can thrive and grow.

Indeed!

While that is easy said than done, the underlying impetus to drive an organization to excellence in the way they do and produce things for their customers is creating a corporate culture that embraces values that are supportive of their business objectives.

Transforming Corporate Culture: 9 Natural Truths for Being Fit to Compete

Here’s the hard reality, business is changing. As technology evolves so quickly, and so is the way of doing business. Yesterday’s effective business models do not scale today. The key is transforming your culture to compete. Jackson and Schmidt have written a powerful book that encapsulates effective cultural interventions that work. They drew from their wealth of experience helping organizations find their competitive winning identity.

Drawing their case through parsing nature’s natural way of growth and evolution, the book, Transforming Corporate Culture, proffers that developing culture within the walls of the organization takes the same process. Extracting nine lessons from nature and using them as a tool for diagnosing organizational and business issues, and highlighting stories and experiences from CEO’s, they have aptly demonstrated that creating a competitive corporate culture is key to any business success.

Indeed, change is inevitable and that an organization can’t fight it. If it needs to survive the Darwinian credo of competing in the market, it has to evolve into a superior organization through its culture for culture is a power to be reckoned. Thus top management and their teams need to understand what culture is, how it drives competition and how to reshape their organization's ability to dominate their industry; exceed their revenue goals; find better ways of serving their customers; and allowing their employees to participate in making these into realities.

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Can an ERP Save your HR Department?

2011-12-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

Is your HR department more disorganized than a 19-year old college student too busy playing God of War to care about his homework? Don't know whether the holiday hours, work schedules or pension benefits are in effect? It might be time to fully automate your business with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system!

ERP systems can work with all facets of your business to make sure that your business processes are smooth and in tip-top shape.

So what exactly IS ERP?

ERP takes all of the management information, both external and internal and integrates it through the entire organization, including the finance department, the customer service department, the marketing and tech support department, the manufacturing department and the sales and service departments. Putting all this information into a big database, ERP can help any industry

ERP Systems, generally speaking, have four main features:

An integrated system that does not require upgrades, because it's constantly being updated in real- time (or close to real-time).
A database, common to all departments, that can effectively run all the applications needed.
A look and feel that is consistent for all the modules used.
The system can be installed without comprehensive application installing or data integration by the IT department.

What components of HR can be helped by ERP?

Practically all of them! HR's job is made that much easier since an ERP system can:

Ensure all payroll is accurately put into the system.
Ensure that employees are properly trained.
Ensure all benefits are accrued properly.
Enable the HR Manager to see that the 401(k) balances are applied to the correct employees.
Show who was recently hired and the proper pay rate to give to him or her.
Keep Diversity Management up-to-date . This ensures that departments are diverse enough to allow inputs and outputs from people from multiple backgrounds.

What are the specific components of an ERP system?

ERP systems generally consist of features such as: Customized Reporting, Workflow Management Internet access (for the purpose of gaining information and document management).

Some people are talking about "Best Practices". Should I be concerned?

Best Practices are the software's way of agreeing with the vendor's ideologies on how to run the company's business processes effectively. As such, complying with these regulations actually becomes easier when an ERP system is implemented. If your company does electronic funds transferring, such as through Paypal, ERP systems actually help facilitate that because they can effectively be coded into the system and be shared among multiple businesses.

Does ERP take a long time to implement?

Yes, but it's worth it. The average amount of time for a business is 14 months and requires 150 consultants. Because of the fact that ERP requires multiple and considerable changes to all the policies and practices, ERP services consist of three different items: Customization, Consulting and Support. Your actual implementation time will vary based on a number of factors, including but not limited to: The size of the business, the willingness of the employees to accept the change and exactly how expansive the scope of changing is. Small companies could see this program done in a month or two, whereas large and multi-national corporations could take as long as a decade.

Does ERP only help the HR Department?

Not at all. ERP is a total overhaul of the way the entire business is run and with information available to all the networks of the organization, you can easily see all facets of business, from accounting all the way up to upper management, being run quicker and more efficiently.

In sum, ERP is a comprehensive modernization of the way the business is run. Any department, from HR to Sales, can see prospective benefits in the long run with some short-term sacrifices. ERP is a good idea for a business that wants to see items ship faster, employees working more effectively and inventory being better accounted for.

This is a guest post by Steve, a recent graduate student living in California who has an expansive background in accounting. He has worked for multi-state companies which have implemented ERP from JD Edwards managed services where he had the opportunity to speak to several consultants about how ERP implementation can be done in a way that accommodates both the business and its employees.

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Doing Your Best With a Desperate Workforce

2011-10-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

Today's business start-ups are faced with the honest fact that the current job market is unprecedentedly diluted. Millions of Americans are in need of work and millions more are struggling to attain the professional goals they set out for themselves through education and hard work. For fresh entrepreneurs this is both a blessing and a curse. Many talented individuals flood the system ready to be picked up and given a chance, yet finding them through the thick of non-qualifiers is no easy task.

Once they are hired, the modern workforce continues to present its own set of challenges on account of the dire economy and its affect on individual lives. The following are good ways to not only do your best for these sorts of workers, but to also ensure they don't make it any harder for you to start a successful business:

Get a Great Healthcare Plan

Peace of mind goes a long way in the minds of new employees. Not only do they want to know they're performing well, they also want to make sure they can count on their job to help them take care of their families. The best way to not only win over terrific talent but also keep your workers content and therefore willing to work hard, is to provide a fantastic healthcare plan. Changes in healthcare law have given small business leaders every incentive to get worthwhile plans, providing tax credits to those that do.

Insure Against Flakiness

One downside to the job market floodgates being opened and having access to overly-qualified employees is that these kinds of workers are likely to continue to keep looking for work. Contractors and those hiring remotely especially ought to consider such options as the surety bond and sub-contracts to make sure that the work gets done. Small businesses can't afford to be late on delivery of goods and services. Whether it's in the design of your business structure or simply in writing, protect against flakiness at all costs.

When Possible, Accommodate Busy Schedules

Not every business is able to let their workers perform their tasks whenever it's convenient. But if you're an Internet-based business or some other enterprise with around-the-clock access to the means of production, it's wise to be willing to let office schedules go out the window so long as the work gets done. Too many families are juggling multiple jobs along with the schedules of kids and otherwise to always expect everyone to make it on time everyday. By making it clear that punctuality isn't a priority, you'll let your employees relax, and are sure to see positive results.

Hone Your Interview Process

If there's one certain learning opportunity for entrepreneurs in this tough economy, it's how to hire the right people. Timing is off the essence in running a start-up, so it's imperative that you find the right people as fast as possible. Chances are you're going to be interviewing at least six individuals for one position. Now, imagine the amount of resumes that means you'll have to be looking through. Figure out an efficient system, whether that's scanning every resume for red squiggles and keeping the ones that are error free, or creating an exposing series of questions for the 1-1 process.

Today's workforce is not the same as those of times past. Things are different. The world is working in a very different way. So will the workers, but if they're smart, so will the business leaders.

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Key Benefits of Learning Management Systems For Businesses

2011-10-19T03:18:00.000-07:00

Many business and organizations are responsible for maintaining skills and competence for a large group of employees. As a workforce grows in size, managing employee needs can become challenging, even for smaller businesses. Learning management systems (LMS) are thus put in place to help an organization manage its training programs, online events, classrooms, documentation, and administrative work relating to employees.

LMS Advantages

Organization and Regulation

Many companies can benefit from a learning management system. Modern systems can help provide a central repository for administrative tasks, and automate many procedures. Payroll can be used more effectively, as self-guided services can help many employees manage their own training and competency in an organization. Educational materials can be assembled to meet an individual employee's needs, based on competency testing.

LMSs can also be used for automated administrative tasks and human resource management. Modern systems are used in a variety of industries with regulation (such as pharmaceutical, medical, and financial services) to manage employee compliance training.

Flexibility

A LMS also makes it possible to support varying portability requirements, for different regulatory and site standards. In addition, training initiatives can be consolidated to work on web based platforms, allowing cloud-based storage for learning materials.

Collaborative Learning Environment

LMSs can vary in function, from systems designed for managing educational documents and training records, to cloud-based learning solutions that can be delivered over the Internet. Online LMS systems allow for collaborative learning environments, and can help employees learn with a mentor or other educator.

LMSs can be used to manage all aspects of an employee's documentation. Some service providers provide employee performance and expectations management solutions, which allow employee reviews, feedback, skills-gap analysis, multi-rater assessments, and succession planning. By using competency-based learning solutions, employers can quickly fill in learning gaps, and build the skill set of a group of employees.

Channel Learning

One of the largest upcoming trends in learning management systems is Channel Learning, where allied companies can share educational content and compliance learning materials with partner groups. By thinking outside of traditional corporate boundaries, employers and firms can improve the skill set of their workforce at minimal cost. Large companies with many divisions can create a central LMS, and allow general skill training sets to be used by all partner groups.

Many organizations and businesses suffer from high levels of redundancy in their learning plans and initiatives. By using a learning management system, redundancies in a training system can be incorporated into a single central learning plan. This allows businesses to reduce HR payroll costs, ensure a centralized compliance management system, allow for employee appraisals and reviews using a central standard, and allow performance benchmarking across a large number of groups.

Many learning management systems integrate elements of a talent management system. A TMS can help companies recruit new talent effectively, by creating a database to manage needs in an organization. Many businesses recruit talent based on an organizational hierarchy.

A talent management system can proactively identify areas in a company that can benefit from additional talent, based on current employee appraisals and reviews. Predictive analytics can forecast upcoming trends and needs, and can help a company bring on additional talent before it is needed.

If there are areas where a learning management system has detected weakness, a talent management system can help a proactively identify opportunities to improve a workforce through recruitment of additional talent. In addition, if a LMS identifies a surplus of human talent in one division, and a need for additional talent, TMS-LMS integration can help identify situations where cross training can effectively increase value for a company.

Companies are people: by managing employee skills, talent recruitment, and feedback programs, businesses can learn how to effectively manage their most valuable asset. As technology progresses, talent and learning management systems can help businesses of all sizes adapt to a variety of economic climates.

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Is Your Organization Customer-Focused?

2011-09-19T06:47:00.000-07:00

What does it mean to say an organization is customer-focused?

A customer-focused organization is one that truly understands the needs and expectations of its customers and focuses on going beyond just meeting them. Customer-focused organizations consistently exceed the expectations of their customers. There is recognition throughout the organization that customer satisfaction should be a bare minimum – not a goal to strive for. If you want to be recognized as an outstanding provider of customer service, then you – and everyone who works for your company – must consistently exceed the expectations of your customers.

How can companies develop customer relationships characterized by loyalty?

Providing satisfactory service is a given in a customer-focused organization. Exceeding the needs of customers – both in terms of quality of products and services and in terms of how they are treated – is what will cultivate customer loyalty. Think about it like this: A satisfied customer is one that did not experience dissatisfaction with your company. He or she might come back in the future, but might just as easily to go a competitor. Ask yourself this: What can you do to make sure that your customers want to choose to keep coming back to you time and time again? Those are the things that result in loyalty.

What can a company do to become more customer-focused?

Treat employees with the same level of respect that should be shown to customers
Train employees regarded what is expected and why the expectation is what it is
Never lose sight of the fact that perception is reality when it comes to customer service
Realize that customers must be the first priority
Maintain an appropriate attitude of respect and professionalism
Focus on determining customer needs
Work on building relationships with customers
Work proactively to prevent problems
Practice effective problem resolution techniques when problems arise

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_____________________________________________________

This is another guest post by Mary G. White, M.A., SPHR. She is the Training Coordinator for Mobile Technical Institute and MTI Business Solutions, where she specializes in human resources, management, and marketing training. She teaches business training seminars in Mobile, AL and provides on-site corporate training and conference presentations throughout the U.S., as well as human resource management and public relations consulting services. She is also the author of 101 Human Resource Management Tips and 101 Successful PR Campaign Tips in the LifeTips book series. Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Tips for How to Choose an Excellent Business Administration Degree Program

2011-09-15T17:38:00.000-07:00

Nearly every four-year university offers a Business Administration Degree program; however, not all degree programs are created equal. Just because a college offers a certain degree program doesn't necessarily mean that it is a good program at that school. Many colleges are distinctly known for excelling in a certain area such as the University of Missouri for Journalism, the University of California-Davis for Large Animal Veterinary, and the Harvard School of Business for, obviously, business. While we would all love to have achieved the academic excellence to attend the Harvard or Wharton School of Business, it's not always possible. However, you can still obtain a great degree from a reputable program even if the program isn't as prestigious as Harvard. You just need to know what you look for. Before deciding on any university or college to obtain your business degree, you need to ask yourself 3 key questions:

What Does the Curriculum Offer?

When it comes to entering a degree program, it is obvious that the education itself it of the foremost importance. Before registering with a certain school, check out their curriculum online first. A good business program, whether it be an MBA or BA, should always have a curriculum that offers a balance between accounting, management, and finance.

Who Will Be Your Professors?

If the professors of a program you are interested in have never sat on a Board of Directors, owned their own firm, or sat as a CEO or CFO, then there is a good chance that they don't have the real life experience needed to teach you real world applications. For each program you are interested in do a background check on each of the professors listed in the department. Choose the program that has the greatest number of professors with the most professional experience. Not only will these types of professors better understand real-world business, but they will have also established more contacts in the business world which will offer you greater opportunities for networking and future job prospects.

What Professional Services are Offered?

The job market has been particularly tough for recent graduates – even those graduating with MBAs. Make sure the business administration programs you are interested in offer a great career services department that gives personalized attention to each individual in the program. You will also want to see what percentage of students are actually being hired from each graduating class of that particular business program. If you find that the number is below 85 percent, then you may want to reconsider your interest.

What Professional Experience is Available?

Education alone will not get you a job after graduation. You will not only need a great education, but also a great resume under your belt. Check with each program to make sure that they are established with several businesses and firms around the area so you are able to obtain a great internship, and gain the work experience needed to begin a solid career after graduation.

Is the Program Accredited?

As surprising as it may be, not all business administration programs are accredited, nor are all colleges and universities. Without accreditation, you are essentially paying for an education and donating your time for a degree that doesn't even count. Before even looking further into any program, you should always make sure they are accredited first by visiting the U.S. Department of Education's page. There is no reason to get starry eyed about a program only to realize that it isn't accredited.

Higher education is a definite investment of time and money. There is no reason to immediately rush into a decision when choosing a program. In this economic climate, you need the best education and professional experience a school can offer to obtain a career after graduation. Don't sell yourself short. Take the time needed to research each school thoroughly to make sure that both your time and money are well spent.

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How To Avoid Making Bad Hiring Choices

2011-08-12T03:03:00.000-07:00

In today's economic environment, mistakes are spotlighted much easier than ever before. To be successful, every approach has to be calculated and played like a chess game. This basic principal goes for the hiring process as well. You want the best people in every position, whether it's for your IT management or HR department.

Far too many people make really bone-headed decisions on those they hire for equally poor reasons. This won't fly in today's economy. It's an employer's market, but you have to think about a lot of things if you want to avoid making a hiring mistake that could end up costing your company time and treasure.

Bullet Point Hiring

Sometimes a candidate looks great on paper but just doesn't translate into real life. As you scroll down the list of bullet point accomplishments, the choices seems to be obvious. It's not uncommon because, after all, you're trying to fill a slot with the best possible candidate. But just because a job applicant looks good on paper doesn't mean that you should be softer on them because they “fit.” Many managers overvalue a narrow range of abilities and work-related experience and totally disregard a candidate that has far more long-term potential.

Overvaluing Presentation Skills

During an interview, an applicant is required to put their best face forward, but it's also important not to overvalue presentation skills. Sometimes people aren't the best during interviews. The economy is bad and many people want a job very badly. This can sometimes lead to nervousness and end up causing the person to make mistakes during their interview. The whole picture needs to be taken into account and any good decision is going to be based on all of the information and not a “gut” motivated decision.

Making Gut Decisions

This is one of the worst reasons to hire someone, but it's also the most common. Managers often go on instinct when they hire someone, but find out quickly after the person starts that maybe they should have thought a little more about it before making a snap decision. Avoid doing this and analyze any choice you make with logic, not feeling.

With all of that said, try not to fall back on preconceived notions about a person. This is usually arrived at within minutes, or even seconds, after a meeting begins. Doing so can often inform your eventual decision and have too great an impact. This is why it's best you use the tips above to make the best long-term decision that will help your company's overall strategy for success.

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Semantics is a Fundamental Element of Employee Motivation

2011-07-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

People like to feel important. That bit of information is not just obvious, it's something you learn in HR 101. But people aren't idiots, either. Employees can smell a supervisor's insincere motivation a mile away, and while a pat on the back is always welcome, it doesn't do much to make an employee feel really special when it's obviously an effort to increase productivity. It's unspoken appreciation that does the most to motivate a person to excel at their work. Workers crave unassuming symbols of their importance.

Examples include the job title. It's something most companies don't care about beyond strictly practical terms, but naming the position correctly can make the individual who filled the slot feel like they're a necessary lever not a replaceable component. It all comes down to semantics, is the study of the meaning of words, phrases, symbols, and their particular influence on the human mind. It's overwhelmingly evident that the right words matter a whole lot when it comes to the response or reaction received.

There is perhaps no better example of the power of semantics like how they work in politics. Frank Luntz is the name you're probably most familiar with when it comes to the frighteningly varying results you can get when you choose different words and phrases to describe an unchanging idea or concept. Luntz famously encouraged lawmakers opposed to the estate tax to call it a "death tax" instead, which resulted in public opinion shifting towards their side of the argument.

If you want workers to do better, use the right words to project the right mindset. You can even go further than that, if budget allows, and invest in seemingly prestigious benefits for the worker. When it's time to replace office furniture order inexpensive "executive office chairs" for all low ranking staff. Traveling employees should be given first-class tickets even if the airline choice is second-rate for their employment rank. They'll never find out.

It doesn't have to be all smoke and mirrors either. Just simply remembering to hone your genuine appreciation to a point that allows for maximum employee self-satisfaction is enough, and you don't have to feel like you're manipulating the mind of someone else.

Mark Twain famously said of writing that "the difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between a lightening bug and a bolt of lightening." This quote also rings true to office semantics. Ho-hum words and perks can generate the energy of a lightening bug among your workers, but pick the right words, phrases, and symbols and you'll get lightening.

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Relevance: One Key to Effective Employee Training

2011-07-12T19:15:00.000-07:00

Does your job involve developing and delivering employee training, or choosing professional training companies to assist with your employee development needs? If so, it's essential that you take the time to think about what separate effective instruction that delivers results from development efforts that are destined to fail.

Effective employee training begins with one simple word: relevant. When employees are required to participate in development activities, it's up to you to establish relevance. Employee development activities can only be successful if the people who are being asked (or told) to participate in them can see the relevance of them.

Think about it this way. How would you answer if an employee were to respond to a request to attend a training session by asking, "What's in it for me?" The answer to that question – what is in it for the employee – is the solution to determining relevance. Good trainers are able to convey relevance throughout training events by using examples and building value.

By making sure that the training that you provide to your employees is delivered in a way that helps them understand how and why they can benefit from acquiring new knowledge and skills. That's the best way to ensure that team members develop transferable skills that can enhance their workplace performance and productivity.

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This is a guest post by Mary Gormandy White, M.A., SPHR. Mary is the Training Coordinator for Mobile Technical Institute & MTI Business Solutions, where she specializes in human resources, management, and marketing training. She teaches business training seminars in Mobile, AL and provides on-site corporate training and conference presentations throughout the U.S., as well as human resource management consulting services. She is also the author of 101 Human Resource Management Tips in the LifeTips book series

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

HR Opportunities in a New Economy - Healthcare

2011-05-01T17:00:00.000-07:00

After enduring a shaky economic overhaul, our country is beginning to bounce back with new progress in new directions. As new hiring efforts are being taken across several industries, employment in human resources is expected to increase over the next 5 years. This is great news for HR professionals who have been out of work, looking for something new, or are just entering the profession.

Healthcare reform has been all over the news lately, and although no one is certain what form it will end up taking, there is one thing the country can be sure of: more healthcare = more jobs. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, healthcare will generate 3.2 million new wage and salary jobs between 2008 and 2018, more than any other industry, largely in response to rapid growth in the elderly population. This is great news for recent graduates of medical, dental, or medical assistant schools, as well as non-industry specific employees. People will be needed for roles in maintenance, administrative, and facility management positions as well.

HR professionals will be required to handle this new influx of employment. Many smaller medical offices may not require an HR professional for their location, but the opportunities are still there especially in larger urgent care facilities and hospitals. Although hospitals constitute only 1 percent of all healthcare establishments, they employ 35 percent of all workers (Bureau of Labor Statistics).

With the changing role of healthcare in our country, the complexities of employee labor rules and government compliance is bound to change as well. HR prospects would do well to do their research before applying for new positions in the healthcare industry as knowledge around these complex changes would definitely set a person apart.

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Be an HRM Leader by Example

2011-04-27T16:02:00.000-07:00

Are you using your role in Human Resource Management to lead your company’s employees? With all of the other hats you’re wearing, leadership might have been pushed to the back burner. But don’t give up; here are 5 simple ways to lead by example. Check in and see how you’re using them to make a difference in your organization.

Winning Attitude - Be the exciting fulfilled employee that you want to see! Happiness begets Happiness, and sometimes that’s all your employees need. Lead by example so that others may remember why they are here. And if you find this a difficult task, then it may be time for you to re-evaluate, and remove whatever roadblocks are in the way of your own attitude. Because as leader, it is the most important tool you have.

Openly Communicate - That’s right, it’s a hidden way to say “Listen!” Are you listening to your employees? Are you allowing them an open door to share what they’re seeing or hearing on their end? Like any good relationship, open communication is key in regards to performance, enjoyment, and improvement. Also, notice when you’re being real with them, or when you’re just telling them what they want to hear. Don’t just make assertions, really get in there and find out the truth of the situation. It will give you a new perspective to lead from.

Make the Hard Choices - This is where the rubber meets the road: decision making. It’s a big part of why you’re paid, and showing up here is everything. How do you make tough decisions? Do you ever catch yourself waiting around until you can take an opinion poll? Or have you ever tried to pass it off as someone else’s problem. Be that stand for your company. Be the person who can step up, evaluate the situation, and make the tough decision. And do it regardless of what the popular opinion is. Anxiety is normal, but your gut will tell you what’s right.

Be the Brand - Are you being the proud face of your brand that you want to see in your employee’s? The marketing department usually handles the promotional pens, t-shirts, and tote-bags, but it is your job to help lead the company culture! How are you setting the example of what it means to be a part of your specific organization? What about a presence in your community? If you want people to hold your company in as high of standards as it deserves, remember it all starts with you.

Go Beyond - How have you gone the extra mile lately? It’s not always in quantity either. Putting in extra hours is not always the answer. What about being fully present when someone has a problem? Or, have you taken a few extra minutes with something because “good enough,” just isn’t? There are many little ways to go beyond what everyone else deems acceptable. And leadership is about setting that example. You know that you care, but sometimes it’s just a matter of showing everyone else. Show them by example.

And remember, the most important part of any journey is the step you’re taking right now. Get present, and get focused. Don’t dwell on the past and future, as they can take care of themselves. And you already have all the tools you need to lead! It’s just a matter of showing up, and doing the work that matters.

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Business Planning Essentials in 6 Sentences

2011-03-02T23:15:00.000-08:00

The best preparation for tomorrow is to do today's work superbly well. ~Sir William Osler

Many are drawn to the idea of startup and running their own small business without taking so much thought about the planning stage itself. A perfect business idea, a capital, and a niche is no guarantee to business success. You were misled. There are more things that you need to prepare before launching your dream business. “If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail.”

You have probably heard that maxim. However, many would-be entrepreneurs have taken that for granted. A written business plan, also, is not all there is. You need more.

Define your business idea and mission.

The business idea is an excellent starting point. I don’t see any other way to start a business except a good and feasible idea. However, you need to articulate it. You need to define it, and the other components associated with it. Unless you are clear about that, a business plan is simply a piece of paper that you will just probably use when you apply for a business loan or when a VC shows interest in your business.

Your idea is the springboard for your business mission. Your mission statement is an articulation of where you want to push your business idea into a realization. This is the grand picture of what you want. Write it. Refine it by discussing it with your partners, friends, or anyone who will be willing to listen to you. If you are familiar with using a mind map tool, that is an excellent way of defining and refining your mission.

Draw your plan and build your business around your passion and expertise.

This is the chance to shine. This is your opportunity to pursue your passion and use your expertise. You have to examine your compelling reasons for starting a business. Otherwise, you are in for a major financial disaster if your motives are not aligned to your business venture.

Be stubborn as a Bull.

If you are not willing to give 101% to your new business, don’t waste your time. Find a job instead. You need to be willing to commit more of your time in cultivating your business to growth. You need to develop the discipline of learning new things, the flexibility to adjust your sail where the wind’s direction is, and the stubbornness of the bull to weather any frustrations you will be encountering along the way, for they are many. It will never be a smooth ride.

Know your market and your competitors.

Your niche is not only your target market; it also includes your competitor. Conduct a competitors’ analysis. This will need more time in data gathering, but it is worth all the efforts. Find everything about your competitors’ offering, which includes product specs, prices, promotions, advertising, distribution, quality, service, the people behind, and their unique proposition. You need not exceed everything that they have. Capitalize on your uniqueness, and do better.

Network with other small business owners and successful entrepreneurs.

These are not necessarily on the same business with you but entrepreneurs who have learned the rudiments of running their own business. Learn from them. You will learn more with these people than taking an MBA. Seek their help from time to time. Join a trade association, shows, and conferences. Network with professionals and vendors who knows about the nature of your business. Keep on connecting, because you will never know when you are going to need their expertise, and support.

Don’t sleep, don’t eat, and don’t play.

Well, this is actually tied up with item number 3 there. It only means that you need to sacrifice. Running your own show is entirely different when you are just among the stage actors. You need to devote your life. That is price you have to pay. It will never be easy, but if you are passionate and resilient about your business, for in the end, the difference between a successful entrepreneur and others is not the lack of capital, resources, and technology, but the lack of will to succeed.

“You can't overestimate the need to plan and prepare. In most of the mistakes I've made, there has been this common theme of inadequate planning beforehand. You really can't over-prepare in business!”~Chris Corrigan

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Interesting Management Lessons from Poker Psychology

2011-03-02T14:02:00.000-08:00

I usually spend a few minutes a day just browsing through business websites or my collection of eBooks. This is a good exercise when you are press on tight deadlines, and you want to write creatively on worthwhile topics. Sometimes, this is difficult for me because unlike other bloggers who have developed the knack for writing controversial headlines to link bait, although mostly fall flat of the real substance of the topic. I want to do more than just that. Sure, they have grabbed your attention –period. Grabbing attention is not all there is, unless you are playing poker, in which case, you want to grab attention for a wrong reason, and in order to create a wrong impression.

Basic Management Psychology is about getting people’s attention and telling them what needs to be done.

I have managed big organizations, and smaller ones, which includes managing my 4-year old son. The most important management lesson I learned from both contexts is getting people’s attention. You cannot lead, and definitely, you cannot get things done if they are not paying attention to your instructions. It is a useless and mindless effort to assert when no one cares. Effective management is about being heard, being clear, and being understood. This means you need to make people pay attention first on what you have to say, and then say it as succinctly as you can. Then, you manage. However, in texas hold em, you need to do the exact opposite.

Basic Poker Psychology is about drawing the attention away from you and convincing people that you have nothing to show forth.

Bluffing is a primary feature of poker psychology that differentiates it from other games. You need to be able to convey a different message to your opponent or even to the spectators. No wonder, the phrase, ”poker face” became a common everyday cliché because we were able to connect it with how we deal with other people. Projecting an impassion appearance or none-disclosure of your real emotion convey mixed signals. It confused people. It make them conjure a lot of things, only to be mistaken or misled. You cannot do that when you manage people. You need to be transparent and clear all the time. Otherwise, you will not be able to convince them to support and accomplish your corporate goals.

A poor analogy?

Frankly, that is not my concern. I tested the waters. It led you here. The point being is, have I made sense? Have I encouraged you to think? Have I opened your mind into looking a very familiar subject matter on a different set of lenses? Or, have I wasted your time?

I hope is not the latter.

We can always make connections on many things, including comparing two entirely different concepts and integrating them in one particular context, in this case, managing people.

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The Rise of the Virtual Workforce and the New Roles of HR Professionals

2011-02-13T02:14:00.000-08:00

I made several career changes in my career life in the last 18 years: from HR to Sales and Marketing, then back to HR; from HR to Freelance Consultancy, then back to HR again; then now to Online Freelancing –aptly called, Virtual Freelancing. Although the latter was more of a decision brought about by other pressing issues, it was nevertheless a calculated decision. Here are a few mixed-notions that occupy my waking hours why I chose to leave my corporate life for good:

Phenomenal Growth of Hybrid Organizations

The last 10 years were characterized by ‘outsourcing.’ Roughly 90% of businesses have outsourced one or more of their business operations elsewhere. According to IAOP (The International Association of Outsourcing Professionals) in their 2010 State of the Industry Survey Report, while the global economic crisis is not waning, yet more than 50% of their respondent organizations have increased their outsourced work volume and scope.

This means that more and more organizations are transforming into a ‘hybrid type’. By the way, when I refer to ‘hybrid organization’, this is not the traditional definition of an organization operating both in the private and public sectors. Hybrid organizations today are those who have outsourced certain aspects of their operation whether onsite or online. These organizations are filling the global business landscape and beginning to set an entirely different way of doing business.

Emergence of the Virtual Workforce

Another significant byproduct of the ‘outsourcing’ phenomena is the rise of a huge ‘Virtual Workforce’.

You are by now familiar with the VA or Virtual Assistant which used to occupy a large chunk of this new breed of employee groups. Today is entirely different. Many have joined the ranks of VA’s, but using their current professions and competencies. These are no mere VA’s. These are programmers, web developers, designers, architects, writers, accountants, and on. And with these, many agencies have also risen to the occasion to tap this market. So the result: the proliferation of online freelance and recruitment websites.

New Roles for the HR Professional

These trends created new realities and opportunities for the HR Professionals. And I would like to be on the forefront.

It is logical that with the emergence of a virtual workforce, there is also a need for other auxiliary services such as the HR. However, this requires for new sets of HR competencies essential in managing these virtual workforces. It is imperative then that an HR Practitioner starts looking beyond her/his facebook, twitter, or linked social engagements and start immersing, assimilating in the world of virtual management.

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Misconceptions About HR And How to Get Over Them

2010-10-26T19:13:00.000-07:00

Human resources is a complex, multifaceted field that requires professionals to have the ability to juggle priorities and excel at a number of tasks—from the sometimes tedious to the often strategic. It takes knowing what to hone in on and what to delegate, staying on top of the latest trends in compensation and always having a finger on the pulse of employee relations. And, often, with so many misconceptions about HR, it involves staying ahead of the curve through continuous education in an attempt to drive what the role will entail for the company.

Being in HR requires having a number of talents and is not for the faint of heart. The role brings with it the potential to make a big impact on the lives of individuals working for the company—its most important assets—and, simultaneously, can leave managers feeling less than appreciated, when contributions to the bottom line are questioned.

Perceptions of HR as a cost center and others, explained below, are just a few of the myths that often surround HR and can prevent practitioners and companies from getting the most from this important role.

HR as a cost center

The view of HR as a cost center may be one of the hardest to overcome. How executives view the HR department and its role often plays a huge part in its perception and function, including whether the job is managed in-house to begin with. Frequently HR must take every opportunity to be its own proponent in providing greater education on the value of its offerings.

Other companies realize that HR managers contribute more directly in taking care of their most valuable assets, handling a range of responsibilities, including: recruiting; interviewing; providing, presenting, and delivering medical, dental, vision, life, and other ancillary benefits; job training; instituting programs for retention and growth of employees; establishing tools and guidance for management reviews; and reviewing and selecting technology to support HR functions, to name a few. Each of these, in fact, contributes greatly to the bottom line when all hard and soft costs of doing business are considered.

Group benefits, for instance, are a major part of the compensation employers offer to entice and retain productive and reliable employees and maintain the organization’s competitive nature. The methods by which these compensation elements are derived and presented are key to a company’s success. In retaining good employees, companies can save thousands, if not more, in rehiring and training costs. HR must be prepared to justify its case with a strong knowledge of its employee base and a rationalization of these types of obvious and not so obvious costs.

HR’s role: strategic and/or tactical

Whether dictated by management, assumed by the practitioner, a function of “fighting fires” on a daily basis, or a combination of the above, HR’s role in the organization is all too often tactical over strategic, often to the dissatisfaction of practitioners themselves. This point is illustrated by USC Professor Edward E. Lawler III, who noted that HR professionals reported spending only 23% of their time in 2005 “being a strategic business partner” – no more than they reported in 1995. And line managers, he found, said HR is far less involved in strategy than HR thinks it is.

Though company culture often sets the stage, HR practitioners must actively seek key areas for improvement for themselves, their roles and for the company and take action to defend their role where possible.

Employee capabilities/technology’s prevalence

If employees and executives are guilty of downplaying HR’s role, often so too is HR in assessing employees’ ability to manage information. Computers first appeared in schools over 12 years ago and today are used by 75 percent of Americans to access the Internet for three hours a day on average. Still, many in HR are reluctant to give up basic self-service benefit management tasks that would save a tremendous amount of time and allow them to better address company objectives.

While it is true that online benefits management can be a scary prospect for those who may be less computer savvy, having access to employee benefits online is another way to provide greater employee satisfaction through accessibility and choice. In fact, many employees will expect online access, especially today’s younger generation for whom iPods and IM are part of everyday life.

Self-service HR has become so invaluable that a September 2006 Forrester Research report termed it “an essential core application” for businesses. The report pointed to the ability of Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS) to help manage personnel costs, operate efficient business processes, comply with regulations and manage legal exposures, and optimize the value of human capital.

Not all HR tools are created equal

Another way that HR can heighten its role and increase strategic input is by using technology to better access, manage, and report on information. But, as with any industry, it is hard to cut through the clutter and hype surrounding proposed solutions to select the best technology to meet organizational needs. Though one provider may declare it offers self-service capabilities, for instance, it may not be the same level needed or offered by others, providing disappointing results. For an HR manager that has met with false promises in the past, doing the homework on proposed solutions is even more important.

Selecting the best tools requires assessing key factors, such as the ability to:

Grow and scale with the organization
Provide full ownership of the data
Simplify processes through wizards
Provide full security for backups, servers, added protective layers, etc. and transfer data within secure encrypted sessions, secure sockets layer (SSL) (128 bit encryption), or be encrypted prior to being sent
Provide authority to decide who will be allowed access and to what degree
Offer a robust eligibility engine for company enrollment activities and rules
Link with carriers with clean, validated transfers, beyond basic ANSI files
Offer 24-hour service from a direct contact that can help.

In conclusion, though managing human resources is certainly not without its challenges, perhaps individuals are drawn to this role in the first place because of “the challenge” and the opportunity to make a difference at companies and in the lives of individuals. Frequently, HR managers can accomplish more and further prove their worth to the company by relying more heavily on employees and technology that can help them to focus on the most important issues.

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This a guest post by Chris Taylor of BeneTrac, a Paychex company and provider of powerful, web-based electronic enrollment and employee benefits administration software online at www.BeneTrac.com. He can be reached at ctaylor@benetrac.com

3 Important Elements of a Successful Leadership Development Program

2010-10-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

The only real training for leadership is leadership. ~Sir Antony Jay

While that is true, I however believed that a good, well-planned and well-executed Leadership Development Program is necessary in order to produce good, if not great leaders within any organization. Many people assume that if someone is successful it is because they have good leadership skills. Some people assume that if a business is successful it is because it has good leaders. Leadership isn't something that is particularly easy to pass on to other people. Sometimes a company is successful because a past leader was very skilled as a leader and the current leader simply has kept things running the same as before.

Great leadership is a rare skill.

For most people it doesn't come naturally. It is amazing how many organizations are successful even though they have only marginally competent people leading them. These people may be aptly called, “accidental leaders.” Many times this is because the structure of the organization helps make up for a leaders short comings. Sometimes it is because a particularly talented staff that makes up for the leaders deficiencies.

Any leadership development training should take into account some of the basic leadership issues, which ought to be made available to the individual concerned for developing his leadership skills.

Here are three important elements to make your leadership training program successful:

The leadership training program must adequately deal with the most important issues on effective leadership, and not limit the understanding of the term to its restrictive sense. Any reference to conventional typecast leadership should be shunned. The training should also incorporate a comprehensive understanding of leadership virtues as applicable to individual requirements, and highlight the subtle differences between leadership and management.

The leadership program should also take into account the attitude of people towards the qualities of a good leader. It is imperative that leadership development training should be ideally structured in relation to the advancement of the individuals concerned, instead of looking for strengths in personal qualities.

While great leadership skills can make someone successful, the inverse is not true. Being successful doesn't make you a good leader. If you are looking for leaders to learn from make sure you are looking for people who actually have good leadership skills and not just someone who is successful. You can't assume that someone is a good leader just because they have had success. Many times people try to emulate people who have had success and try to follow their leadership styles. While this might be a good thing people often end up mimicking the bad habits of individuals.

The leadership development training should also make it clear that collective requirement are of greater importance than individual necessities. Leadership development training tries to develop the quality of an individual to see a vision and look into the future, and develop his ambitions and aspirations.

One crucial virtue that such training emphasizes is that potential leaders should have the capability to see how details fit into the big picture. Such training also stresses the need to have the attitude that helps one to view things from the point of view of other individuals, and also able to comprehend in the proper manner the most suitable approach towards them.

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*Based on current salaries how does yours compare? A payday loan can help you with your financial freedom.

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Teambuilding Makes Your Organization Stronger

2010-09-16T14:08:00.000-07:00

What makes a group of people who work together function as a team? Just because people are employed by the same company does not mean that they see themselves as a team or that they engage in teamwork. It's a fact that working together is not the same thing as teamwork. It’s important for managers to understand the difference between the work of teams and the concept of teamwork. When the people who work for your organization carry out the essential functions of their jobs, they are completing the work of teams.

They may or may not be working together in the cooperative and collaborative manner that indicates that they are truly functioning as a team.

What is a Team?

By definition, a team is a group of two or more people who interact with each other and coordinate their work efforts in pursuit of a common goal. In most companies, work teams are the norm for how the day to day operations of the business are conducted.

Why Does Teambuilding Matter?

Teams are here to stay in the work environment. Good, bad, or indifferent -- it is a fact that most businesses will continue to utilize work teams throughout their ranks for the foreseeable future. Things can go two ways with teams: they can be functional or they can be dysfunctional.

Actively engaging in teambuilding efforts is an important tool for helping your workforce to come together as a functional team, which is in the best interest of the organization at every level. The primary purpose of teambuilding activities and training within your organization is to develop cohesive work groups made up of individuals who treat each other with respect, understand their roles in the workplace, and pull together for the overall good of the company.

Where Does Teambuilding Start?

Teambuilding has to start at the top of the organization. Whether they like it or not, managers set the tone for acceptable behavior within their organizations. When employees see their company’s management team members pull together as a cohesive team, they will be much more likely to exhibit similar behaviors themselves.

Managers have a responsibility to model the appropriate attitudes to employees, and to provide employees with the training that they need in order to develop from a group of people who happen to work together to a team that can accomplish amazing things on behalf of the company.

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This is a guest post by Mary G. White, M.A., SPHR. She's the Training Coordinator for Mobile Technical Institute & MTI Business Solutions (http://www.mobiletechwebsite.com) in Mobile, AL, where she specializes in human resources, management, and marketing training. She teaches open enrollment classes for MTI, provides on-site corporate training throughout U.S., and frequently speaks at conferences and association meetings. She is also the author of 101 Human Resource Management Tips and 101 Successful PR Campaign Tips in the LifeTips book series. MTI provides a variety of consulting services, including IT Training, certification testing, HR & PR consulting, custom database development and website solutions. For free career development tips, see http://www.DailyCareerConnection.com and http://www.CertificationConnection.com. Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Land a New Position: Best Practices for Jobseekers

2010-09-13T07:12:00.000-07:00

Despite the woes of a turbulent economy, job seekers must do everything possible to differentiate themselves from their competition. Understanding the local job market, entering each interview fully prepared, and leveraging professional networks is key to getting hired.

Here are five articles that provide advice and guidance for job seekers, and food for thought as you progress towards landing your next position.

Use LinkedIn tips to maximize the job search process

LinkedIn continues its' growth as a major component of sourcing and recruiting strategies worldwide. And, instead of publishing the literally 100's of tips possible, here are the top ten tips that will give you an advantage over the average user of the site.

Sharpen Your Focus on LinkedIn

You can use keywords on LinkedIn to help find job titles and employers that fit your skills, Harry Urschel writes. Once you get the information about those positions, look for names of people within the company you can contact who may be able to help you get your resume to the right person, he writes.

Tread carefully when mentioning salary expectations

- If you must include a salary expectation in your cover letter, do your homework first so that you use the market range for your area, Alison Green writes. While it's generally best to avoid mentioning salary in a cover letter, some companies may toss out your application if you don't include it, she warns.

Ready for the toughest interview question?

There is no bad interview question; just bad answers! We mentioned earlier that in order to compete in the job market, it is essential that job seekers consider how they will address questions that pop up during the interview, and how to position their answers in such a way that articulates "what's in it for the employer" to hire them.

Are unemployment benefits deterring your job search?

With about five unemployed people per available job and 6.8 million who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, this seems like a no-brainer at first glance. Proponents say this emergency relief can help the unemployed pay bills and put food on the table and also stimulate consumer spending. Yet many argue that extending unemployment benefits will deter people from looking for jobs and dig deeper into the nation's deficit.

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This is a guest post by Christina Archer -a career agent, recruiting specialist, expert resume writer, author, and behind I-CareerSearch.Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

What will take you from Temp to Perm?

2010-04-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

A client recently asked how to handle an interview when hoping to transition from a temporary position to a permanent one. A temporary employee is in a unique position to present specific skills and achievements that the employer is looking for! One of the major benefits of temporary employment is the opportunity that temporary workers have to both learn about their employer and impress them.

That having been said, don’t rest on your laurels. Sometimes temporary employees don’t prepare for the interview as much as outside interviewees. If you approach the interview as if you are a shoe – in you will hurt your chances of being seriously considered.

Prepare for the interview just as you would if you were applying from the outside.

Research the company, culture, and goals. What do you already know about the company? What information is available on its website? Do you have access to the mission statement or other financial information or goals? Summarize what you know and are able learn about the company. Jot down any questions that you can ask coworkers or supervisors before the interview. You will want to keep some pertinent questions to ask the interviewer(s).

What type of interview will it be? One on one is most common and straight forward – there may be more than one. You will want to prepare differently if there are multiple interviewers or a behavioral interview.

Dress for success. As a temporary employee you are probably already trying to put your best foot forward on a daily basis, but take pains to look especially sharp. Cut and style your hair and have your nails done (even men should take this step for the interview).

Be prepared with a list of things you have learned during your assignment. Highlight any achievements on your part and anything that impresses you about the company or your supervisor. Be concrete and provide quantitative information whenever possible. At the very least, provide specific examples.

If you don’t already have a clear mission statement for yourself and 1, 5, and 10 year goals, you should think about this sooner rather than later. It will help if these goals correspond to what you know about the company and how they promote. You should have a good understanding of their promotional ladder at this point, but if you don’t, find out. Again, you will want to relate your goals in a way that makes sense to the company and makes you clearly an attractive candidate!

Writing things down may seem silly or a waste of time to some, but it is a great way to hone your elevator speech and ensure that you are prepared with clear, concise responses that will wow your interviewers. Take the extra time to do this in preparing for an interview and you will exude confidence.

Practicing answering standard interview questions is also a step deemed as not necessary by many, but can really help you feel more confident and ensure that your written statements sound natural and convey what you wish them to. It is important not to sound at all rehearsed – don’t so much memorize as feel comfortable with the information you intend to impart.

Again, I think you are in an ideal position to do well in this interview and wish you good luck!

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This is a guest post by Mary Sherwood Sevinsky. Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

The Many Choices of HR

2009-12-14T12:29:00.000-08:00

Last week, a final year MBA student wanted me to coach him, as he was keen to move into HR, in itself a little unusual career choice. In talking to his university career manager, he was an excellent student with a passion for HR. Now HR is not always seen as the preferred choice for ambitious, talented and commercially orientated graduates, which is his profile.

At times, I am still amazed and also a little disappointed, when I read the criticism by HR people of HR and it’s value to the business. The ability of HR professionals to denigrate their own profession is simply a mystery, and a classical case of being your own worst enemy.

Choice of Industries

HR is one of the few career disciplines, where you can move from one industry to another, with little difficulty, using your HR toolbox to make a company a great place to work.

During my HR career of 30 years, I have been privileged to work in a multiplicity of industries:

institutional sector (Air Force, a scientific research company, an university) – using the intricacies of precedents to develop policies;
services sector (two IT companies) – trying to understand the complexities of frame relay systems;
the tough world of manufacturing (a secondary steelmaking operation – explaining the shaking of the office building during interviews after the pouring of each heat; and a carpet manufacturer – getting used to the smells of making rubber underlay);
the dangerous mining sector (drilling, shaft sinking and tunneling group – going 2 miles underground in a new gold mine shaft); with
a major stint in FMCG (two dairy companies and an international brewer – hearing 30,000 bottles filling per hour on the packaging line and developing an incredible thirst).

Choice of Roles

Though the career path of HR has changed with various specialization fields, such as Employee Relations, Learning and OD, a generalist role really shapes the bread and butter operational skills, such as recruiting.

Working my way up from an entry position as a Personnel Officer with a Psychology degree, it didn’t take too long before manager was added to my title. As Industrial Relations was the fast track in the early eighties, I decided to do a post graduate degree, and soon after, got my first CHRO role at the age of 26, and the youngest executive in the company (who says you can’t be ambitious in HR!). Functional specialist roles in Talent Management and OD contributed to further studies, before moving again into CHRO roles in NZ and Australia.

Choice of Countries

Despite different employment legislation, it has been great to live and work in different countries, including South Africa, New Zealand and currently Australia. One major benefit with a change in government is a major review of employment legislation, which is presently the case with the Fair Work legislation in Australia. A similar situation occurred in NZ when Labour came into power in 1999.

Choice of Careers

Being in HR and wearing many hats, made the transition into a line management role with P&L responsibility possible. It is only when you have 500 real (external) customers, that you understand the various priorities our internal HR customers are facing on a daily basis. Due to specialization in OD, there has also been the bridge to external consulting, working with some great companies and clients.

A Final Observation

There are great opportunities to develop a long and rewarding career in HR, where you can play a significant role in developing capability within organizations, by attracting and developing people.

HR offers great choices, and if I could have my career over, I wouldn’t hesitate to again work and achieve success in HR. My oldest daughter is also working in HR. Would you recommend HR to your son or daughter or to a keen student?

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This is a guest post by Charles van Heerden. Charles is the founder of WaveBox, a specialist consulting firm in Melbourne, Australia. Charles is an HR careers expert with a strong focus on talent management. He has been an HR Director in three countries, a senior line manager and a consultant. Charles holds a degree in Psychology and has completed advanced studies in HR. This article is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Why is Continuing Education Necessary for Entrepreneurial Success?

2009-11-19T19:30:00.000-08:00

We have always believed that a good education from a prestigious university will guarantee us success in our careers or business ventures. We invest so much on it, and some of us graduate having huge loans to pay afterwards. We are broke even before we start job searching, and worse, we learn that most companies prefer those who have sufficient and relevant experience than those who just got out of college.

A college degree is not an end in itself. It is but one milestone in a lifelong learning process. It does not guarantee success, but it provides a solid foundation where we can build our future. Take Bill Gates, for example. In spite of his phenomenal success behind Microsoft, still admits the partial education he got from Harvard is invaluable. And even kid that he’s the most successful among Harvard’s drop-outs.

However, what we have failed to see is that Gates has an unquenchable thirst for learning new things, trailblazing on new technologies, and outwitting his business competitors by getting ahead in acquiring or even inventing new knowledge when there is none. This is continuing education.

In 2005, a research linked higher education with entrepreneurial success. Their poll shows 75% of small business owners have college degrees and 27% have even MBA's. Further, they concluded, "Growing companies are twice as likely as failing companies to be headed by an executive with an MBA." What does this means? It simply reaffirms that continuing education is requisite to business success.

The aim of education is to enable individuals to continue their education ... (and) the object and reward of learning is continued capacity for growth.(John Dewey - American Philosopher, Psychologist and Educator, 1859-1952)

Rightly so.

We tend to believe that education stop once we have our college degree, and that we have everything we need to succeed. We are so busy pursuing our careers and panning our business to life that we neglect continuing education as an essential part of honing our business skills.

While an MBA is preferable or ideal, you do not need to get a graduate degree to pursue higher education. Continuing education can be acquired from a variety of means. And one of which is something that you have complete control of –reading.

In his classic book, "Ragged Dick", a fictional tale of a young man who made it good in New York city in the mid-nineteenth century, Horatio Alger wrote this interesting conversation worth mentioning here:

Dick meets the son of a wealthy man and shows him around the city for a day. Later, the boy’s father tells Dick that “in this country poverty is no bar to achievement” and relates his own rise from apprentice printer to successful businessman. He notes that there was one thing he took away from the printing office “which I value more than money.” When Dick asks what this was, the man replies: “A taste for reading and study. During my leisure hours I improved myself by study, and acquired a large part of the knowledge which I now possess. Indeed, it was one of my books that first put me on the track of the invention, which I afterwards made. So you see, my lad, that my studious habits paid me in money, as well as in another way.”

Though fictional, Alger simply echoed the simple fact that reading books is one of the common habits among successful entrepreneurs. They continue to educate themselves by enriching their knowledge from reading. Fortunately for us, these days we can access great resources from the internet or buy books from an online bookshop. But how many of us take advantage of this?

Continuing education, however you choose to acquire it, is necessary for entrepreneurial success. New technology and new way of doing things are being developed every day, and NOT acquiring new knowledge would simply mean allowing our competitors to overrun us. We cannot afford that. Those who usually get ahead are those who are best informed.

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